When circuit-switched cellular radio networks are built, the functions of their network elements are tested using various simulators. For example, WO 99/52314 teaches a device for simulating mobile stations, base stations, calls and handovers. The calls are circuit-switched connections. The solution presented mainly tests the operation of a base station controller. The device collects call statistics, handover statistics and error data. U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,450 discloses a cellular network traffic simulator for simulating a base station system, a mobile switching centre, a gateway mobile switching centre, a gateway short message service centre, a visitor location register, a home location register, and a mobile station. According to the publication, the simulator can be connected to a serving GPRS support node of a packet-switched data service, but the publication does not at all deal with the simulation of packet-switched traffic.
Known solutions are not suited to testing packet-switched cellular radio networks. Packet-switched cellular radio networks significantly differ from circuit-switched cellular radio networks in that in a circuit-switched cellular radio network, a call is usually tested that is implemented either between two mobile stations of the cellular radio network or between a mobile station of the cellular radio network and a telephone of an external public switched telephone network (PSTN), whereas in a packet-switched cellular radio network, a packet-switched connection to be tested can be created for instance between a mobile station and a content server connected to the cellular radio network via the Internet, for example.
As the use of packet-switched cellular radio networks increases strongly, there is a growing need in the field for a solution enabling the testing of the operation of the network elements of packet-switched cellular radio networks, the testing of new packet-switched services implemented by the packet-switched cellular radio network and the content servers connected thereto, the testing of terminal applications using the services, and the testing and development of the billing of services.